Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 3.djvu/446

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

412

THE SHIH KING.

DECADE III.

darkness; But amid clamour and shouting, You turn the day into night^[1].'

King Wăn said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of) Yin-shang, (All round you) is like the noise of cicadas, Or like the bubbling of boiling soup. Affairs, great and small, are approaching to ruin, And still you (and your creatures) go on in this course. Indignation is rife against you here in the Middle Kingdom, And extends to the demon regions^[2].'

King Wăn said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of) Yin-shang, It is not God that has caused this evil time, But it arises from Yin's not using the old (ways). Although you have not old experienced men, There are still the ancient statutes and laws. But you will not listen to them, And so your great appointment is being overthrown.'

King Wăn said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of) Shang, People have a saying, "When a tree falls utterly, While its branches and leaves are yet uninjured, It must first have been uprooted." The beacon of Yin is not far distant;—It is in the age of the (last) sovereign of Hsiâ.'

↑ We speak of 'turning night into day.' The tyrant of Shang turned day into night. Excesses, generally committed in darkness, were by him done openly.
↑ These 'demon regions' are understood to mean the seat of the Turkic tribes to the north of China, known from the earliest times by various names—'The hill Zung,' 'the northern Lî,' 'the Hsien-yun,' &c. Towards the beginning of our era, they were called Hsiung-nû, from which, perhaps, came the name Huns; and some centuries later, Thû-küeh (Thuh-küeh), from which came Turk. We are told in the Yî, under the diagram Kî-kî, that Kâo Zung (B.C. 1324—1266) conducted an expedition against the demon regions, and in three years subdued them.

[1] We speak of 'turning night into day.' The tyrant of Shang turned day into night. Excesses, generally committed in darkness, were by him done openly.

[2] These 'demon regions' are understood to mean the seat of the Turkic tribes to the north of China, known from the earliest times by various names—'The hill Zung,' 'the northern Lî,' 'the Hsien-yun,' &c. Towards the beginning of our era, they were called Hsiung-nû, from which, perhaps, came the name Huns; and some centuries later, Thû-küeh (Thuh-küeh), from which came Turk. We are told in the Yî, under the diagram Kî-kî, that Kâo Zung (B.C. 1324—1266) conducted an expedition against the demon regions, and in three years subdued them.

[1]

[2]